Many conventional cheese products have been marketed for use with food items like sandwiches, hot dogs, crackers, vegetables and macaroni. Such conventional cheese products are typically cold packed or processed, the former usually comminuted and mixed without emulsifying agents and the latter comprising emulsifying agents and cooked to pasteurization temperatures.
The drawbacks associated with such conventional cheese products include the expense of the products, the need for refrigeration, the difficulty in packaging large quantities for food service applications, and the often required need for pasteurization which leads to cheese products with inferior flavor characteristics.
There is increasing interests to develop a good tasting cheese condiment that is stable at ambient temperature. This invention, therefore, is directed to a squeezable cheese condiment that is stable at ambient temperature, prepared from an emulsion comprising at least one component that is an oil-in-water phase, and not tart, even at a pH below about 3.75. The squeezable cheese condiment of this invention is affordable to make, easy to package, unexpectedly stable at ambient temperature and rich in flavor since the condiment does not require pasteurization or other forms of thermal processing.